Not many have looked back at earth as an isolated, vulnerable,
negligible, closed ecosystem, but everyone has, at least once in their
lifetime, looked into the blackness that lies beyond – into space – and the
universe, through the eyes it has created – your eyes – has looked back upon
itself. As Carl Sagan has rightly put it, “we are a way for the cosmos to know
itself”.

Yet back on Earth – we defile nature – consciously or
subconsciously – and to attain the level of consciousness, to understand the scale
of destruction of this only place where we can live, one has just to sit in one
place, imagine this planet as your own, your neighbours your own, your
neighbouring plants and animals your own. One need not visit the space to experience the
overview effect. One needs simply to reflect on the fact that we’re one without
anywhere else to go.

Towards the end of the month of March every year (March 23
this year), we pay tribute to our planet by turning off the unnecessary electricity
for just one hour (8:30 to 9:30 pm). I have been observing it every year whenever I’m
home since 2007. And there is no time such as on that night to sit and reflect.

Or sit and talk about this: a world without electricity. In this age of
technology we know a scenario where electricity will cease to exist – does not
exist. But to imagine it is to live a city dweller’s worst nightmare. And if
you cannot live without switching on the flow of electrons through the circuit
in your homes – you’ve got to, at least for the sake of an adventure, turn it
off – and the Earth Hour is your time.

But be warned – using candles instead of the incandescent
bulb is no help either – you’re again inadvertently adding carbon dioxide to
the environment, and even though it is negligible, Earth Hour is not just about switching off man-induced electricity, it is a time of giving
back to nature what we don’t most of the year – giving Her the time to be her
former self, which I’m sure She sorely misses.

Let lightning and volcanoes light up the Earth.

Sit out in
the balcony and gaze up.

You are the universe’s eyes.

And the universe does not
require incandescent lights to rekindle life.

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Earth Hour is observed every year from 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM.
This year it will be observed on March 23, Saturday.